Total War
by Cybat
Summary: This is it! The war between the smashers and the shadows has begun! Who will emerge victorious (well, that may be pretty obvious), and at what cost? What will happen to our heroes next? r&r! Now completed!
1. Completing the Roster

Total War

by Ryan Myers

Chapter 1: Completing the Roster

"So what now Clyne?" Master Hand asked. "What did you decide without me?"

"Well," Clyne replied thoughtfully, "Not much, actually."

"I think they'll be attacking the toy dimension first, since that's the closest." Master Hand remarked. "So let's go there."

"Waita!" Mario shouted. "Weren'ta there othera people toa recruit, Clyne?"

"Oh, you're right! Let's do that now." Clyne suggested, opening a portal.

The smashers emerged onto a strange landscape whose features seemed very polygon-oriented, except for a somewhat small building not too far away.

"Mario and Peach, come with me." Clyne suggested.

"Just them?" Samus wondered. "That's no fun!"

"He's leading them into a trap!" Falco whispered to Fox. Fox rolled his eyes.

Clyne approached the building and knocked. He motioned for Peach and Mario to enter first.

They entered a room that was completely empty, except for what appeared to be a receptionist's desk. The receptionist was-

"Peach?" Mario shouted.

"What is going on?" the receptionist asked. 

"Waita a minute! I knowa what'sa going on!" Mario shouted triumphantly. He walked up to the desk. "Dr. Marioa worksa here, right?"

"Why-yes-do you have an appointment?"

"We don't need one, Peach," said Peach matter-of-factly.

"Oh-of course not…I'll get him."

Peach left the room and returned moments later with a short, plump man wearing a white coat, a stethoscope, and a familiar mustache.

"Doc! It'sa great toa see you!" Mario shouted.

"Mario, whata are youa doing here?"

"Long story." Clyne replied, coming out from behind. "We need your help."

"Well, I'lla need to cancel mya appointments…"

"You don't have any, Doctor." Peach replied from the desk.

"Oha, right. OK, let'sa go!"

The four exited to greet a very confused audience.

"Mario?" Link asked.

"Yes?" the two replied in unison.

"Bowser?" Dr. Mario shouted.

"Don'ta worry, he'sa with us." Mario answered. The doctor seemed suspicious, but accepted.

Clyne rolled his eyes. "This is Dr. Mario. He'll be joining us."

"Whata does that involvea?"

"I'll tell you later."

The next stop was very familiar to one of the smashers.

"Kokiri Forest? What are we doing here?"

"This isn't the Kokiri Forest you know, Link. This is a different version of the forest. Does it look different?"

"Well, yeah…it looks like-it did before Ganondorf attacked."

"That's right." Clyne replied. "Come with me."

Walking past the very confused elves, Link soon found someone he would have never expected to see: himself.

"Who are you?" Young Link asked.

"I'm Link."

"Like heck you are! I am!"

"You both are," Clyne sighed, "From different dimensions. Young Link, we-"

"Don't call me Young Link! I'm Link! He can be Old Link."

Clyne sighed. "You're Young Link. Unless you don't want to come…"

"Who, me? Pass up an adventure? Fine, I'll be Young Link. Just this once."

Link groaned. "This is pointless. Get to the point."

"We need your help." Clyne stated. "Will you come with us?"

"Sure, I-Wait! That's Ganondorf!"

"Oh, no." Link muttered.

"He's with us." Zelda assured.

"Zelda? You look…older."

"I am," she replied, giggling. "Just like Link is."

"Whatever. Where are we going?"

"The toy dimension. You'd like it there." Master Hand replied.

"Huh?"

Clyne rolled his eyes. "I'll tell you later."

The next stop blew everyone away.

"I'm flat! What is going on?" Falcon shouted, alarmed.

Luigi laughed. "Bring backa memories, Marioa?"

"Youa bet. Ia guess thisa person never madea it intoa 3D."

"That's for sure." Clyne replied. "Everyone, meet Mr. Game & Watch."

On cue, a small black stick figure emerged from a nearby house. The smashers at the right angles could see right through it.

"Fascinating…completely 2D!" mused Ganondorf.

"Welcome to the team, um…G & W." Samus said kindly to the figure. 

The figure recoiled, though, and beeped loudly.

"Hmm." Clyne sighed. "I hadn't counted on that problem."

"What's wrong with it?" DK groaned. "Make it stop!"

"Pichu!" Pichu agreed.

Clyne shouted over the beeping, "It must have never heard English before. It just communicates with beeps!"

"Well, fix it! This hurts!" Marth complained.

Mewtwo and Ness stepped forward. 

"What can they do?" Bowser roared. "He couldn't have a mind or mouth!"

Everyone laughed. "We'll give it a try." Mewtwo replied.

Mewtwo and Ness focused their mental energies on the unsuspecting stick figure. The beeps became louder and louder, until they stopped suddenly.

"Did it work?" Roy groaned, uncovering his ears.

"Well…" Mewtwo turned, holding his head. "We fed him all the info we could. Whether he understood any of it or not…"

"He looks…dead." Ness remarked sadly.

Indeed, G&W was lying unmoving on the oddly two-dimensional ground.

"Mewtwo, is that possible?" Master Hand demanded.

"Well, if you'd have asked me yesterday, I'd have said no…" Mewtwo answered, confused.

Suddenly, the figure bolted upright. "Greetings, friends. My name is Mr. Game & Watch."

"Welcome to the team." Samus repeated happily. 

"So now will you tell us what's going on?" Young Link asked.

"I'd love to." Master Hand replied. "It all started…"

While he's doing that, let's see what the smashers' opponents are doing.

"Sire, there's been an unexpected problem."

"Oh really? What might that be?" Anomaly turned away from his intent watching of the toy dimension.

"Well, our attack may not be as much of a surprise as we intended."

Anomaly gave his spy his full attention now. "Not a surprise? How the hell is that possible?"

"According to our informant in the Kokiri Forest, Master Hand and his friends are most likely gathering a small army to warn the toy dimension of our arrival, and to lead the counterattack."

"How do they know?"

"The group arrived in the forest and picked up a fighter, then someone said something about the toy dimension." The spy replied wryly.

"Unbelievable." Anomaly was overcome with disgust. "Those heroes would try to ruin my plans, would they? I'll show them!"

The spy cowered. He knew that once Anomaly's temper was agitated, near him was a dangerous place to be. Anomaly pounded his fist down dangerously close to the spy, and barked out orders to the armies.

"Gather all of our forces! If they think they can stop us, we'll double our size! Triple!"

"How do you propose we do that, sire?" Anomaly's second-in-command wondered.

"I don't care, think of something! Start reproducing! I'll delay the attack another week!" came the reply.

The shadows became electrified with activity, trying to increase their numbers.

"So, Master Hand, you think you can stop me? This should prove to be an interesting war." Anomaly smiled to himself, calming down. "Very interesting."


	2. Arrival

(A/N: OK, from now on, most of the action will be in the toy dimension. The smashers were in the toy dimension before, in my 3rd fic. So, there will be lots of references to that fic here. Every time there is such a reference, or when events of the 3rd fic are implied to be known, I will indicate it with (3), just to show that you're not missing anything from this plot. It couldn't hurt to read my 3rd fic, though…and review…)

Chapter 2: Arrival

"Well," Master Hand began dramatically after exiting the portal, "Here we are in the toy dimension."

"It looks good." Fox commented, remembering the destruction that he had seen during Mistress's short reign. "They've started rebuilding." (3)

"It does look very civilized." Marth agreed. "You said only toys live here now?"

"Yes, but they're our size." Kirby explained.

"Not yours." Link teased. Kirby shouted in mock anger, "Bigger isn't better, fairy boy!"

"Ooh, haven't heard that one before." Link retorted, laughing.

"Enough!" Master Hand shouted. "Let's go visit Apocalypse."

"That doesn't sound friendly." Young Link commented.

"Well, he's in charge of this dimension. The real Apocalypse is a nigh omnipotent villain in some other universe." Ness explained.

"Showoff," Mewtwo muttered jokingly.

"Ness and Mewtwo seem to be finally getting along." Samus whispered to Mario.

"Yeah…maybe it was the whole saving G&W thing." He whispered back, grinning.

"Pichu!"

"Pika. Kachu."

"Jigglypuff!"

"Pi?"

"Hmm…I guess Pikachu and Jigglypuff are explaining to Pichu." DK muttered.

As the smashers approached the large central building, they could see that the area was really starting to develop. Smaller buildings were sprouting up, and there were roads leading all around. It was a welcome change from their last visit.

Suddenly, the smashers were blocked by a huge blue object. It soon changed shape, though, and became Apocalypse.

"Excuse me, I was practicing my shape-shifting and didn't see y-" Apocalypse stopped abruptly, realizing to whom he was talking. "Master Hand?"

"In the flesh." Master Hand replied, then added, "I guess."

"I don't believe it! Everyone will be so happy you're alive!" (3)

"Unfortunately…" Master Hand motioned to the smashers behind him, "I've come with bad news. Gather your strongest fighters."

Apocalypse greeted each smasher; after all, he knew all of their toy counterparts, but he got stuck when he came to Clyne.

"You're not an action figure."

"No, I'm not. My name is Clyne, and I come from the same dimension as Master Hand."

"Oh, I see. Pleased to meet you."

"Likewise."

Apocalypse motioned everyone inside the central building, showing them places to eat and rest. He then left to summon the fighters.

"He seems nice." Game & Watch commented.

"Yes, he does. What did you say about his being a villain, Master Hand?"

"Oh, I don't know," the glove replied, "I had just heard somewhere that he was really a powerful evil force."

"I wouldn't believe that at all." Roy commented.

Apocalypse soon came in, and the smashers walked outside to greet a huge collection of toys.

"I said your best fighters, Apocalypse…" Master Hand sighed.

"I couldn't decide," came the reply.

"Fine. Let me talk-" Clyne whispered.

"No, they know me," Master Hand shushed, then, "Good morning, everyone." 

He was soon drowned out by applause and sounds of wonder (3). He laughed amiably and continued.

"I'm glad you all care so much about me, and I'm sure you'd all like to know how I survived. I managed to teleport away at the last second before the building exploded. I ended up worse off, though. Shadows corrupted my mind, and I almost ran another tournament worse than the first. Luckily, I recovered, but only quickly enough to call everyone out of the tournament besides poor Mario."

A friendly chorus of "Awww…" rippled through the crowd, especially the smashers who had been in the first tournament.

"Now, these same shadows are preparing to attack. Here."

This time the crowd was dead serious. Except for the occasional whisper, it was utterly silent.

"I have brought the smashers to help you, but I need more volunteers to join them on the front lines." Master Hand finally got to the point. "Would anyone care to help?"

Silence ensued for a moment, then someone stepped forward.

"I'd love to work with you guys again," a cheerful Captain Commando (3) said.

A few seconds later, another of the smashers' allies, Crash Bandicoot (3), agreed.

"Anyone else?" Master Hand prompted.

"I'll do it," came a brave, almost arrogant voice from the middle of the crowd. He dramatically leapt over everyone and landed just in front of Master Hand. He was blue, with distinctive quills and red shoes, and many, including Mario, recognized him immediately.

"Sonic!" Mario greeted. "Haven'ta seen youa in a whilea."

"We didn't always get along, Mario, but now we're on the same side." Sonic replied with a big grin.

"If Sonic goes, I go." Tails chimed in.

"Me too." Knuckles agreed.

"Hey, Knuckles! I didn't know you were with them!" Ness greeted (3).

A deep, solemn voice emanated from the crowd, "If that hedgehog is going, I'll come too."

Sonic jerked his head to the side to apparently confirm his suspicion. "Shadow." He hissed. The black hedgehog smirked in reply.

"Hey, none of that," Clyne admonished. "You may not like each other but here, you're on the same side."

"Anybody else?" Master Hand continued desperately.

"No," someone shouted, "There is no one else. Now go away!"

"Who said that?" echoed through the crowd, until finally, the speaker emerged. It was the action figure version of Bowser. Everyone knew that this counterpart despised Master Hand.

"Bowser, I don't want-"

"Oh yes you do! I know what you're really doing here."

By this time the crowd was showing signs of bewilderment. What was Bowser talking about?

"You want to defeat…" Suddenly Bowser's voice became deeper, less growling. "Me."

Master Hand recognized the voice and was terrified. "Anomaly?"

Anomaly's voice continued to speak through Bowser. "My spy has been good to me, Master Hand. He has provided me with all the information I need to defeat your newly forming army."

"Is that so?" Clyne barked, and ran over to Bowser. With two swift blows, Bowser toppled over, unconscious. Clyne hit him one more time for good measure.

"He knows we're here." Clyne stated. "This is going to be tougher than we thought."

(A/N: This takes place before the storyline of Sonic Adventure 2 ends. If you have beaten the game, you know why.)


	3. Preparations

(A/N: The use of the word "smashers" will now encompass everyone who is fighting on the front line.)

Chapter 3: Preparations

Anomaly was once again being pestered by a subordinate.

"Why did you announce your knowledge, sire? Now they will keep their guard up!"

"Does no one here trust my judgment?" Anomaly roared. "Of course they will keep their guard up! And you should know that there is such a thing as keeping one's guard up too high…"

The smashers were all talking amongst themselves as Master Hand regained order. 

"We need to keep our guard up if Anomaly knows we're ready for him." Master Hand suggested.

"Anomaly wouldn't announce his awareness without a reason, though." Clyne pointed out. "We need to be extra careful."

"Agreed. Any more volunteers?"

"We'll help," someone in the back shouted. The parting crowd revealed two armor-clad figures and another figure wearing a cape. 

"You guys are still here?" Apocalypse seemed very surprised.

"Sure, we just haven't wanted to train in a while." The caped one answered.

"Whoa are you?" Mario asked.

"I am Maska. I am a powerful wizard," the caped person replied.

"You can call me Balendin," another responded. "I am a paladin."

"And I am a fighter," the largest one said. "My name is Gerick."

"Well, glad to have you all on the team." Master Hand answered. "Come on, people, we need as much help as-"

His speech was interrupted by a loud argument among two of the smashers.

"Shadow, you don't deserve to help us! You're as bad as they are! Have you noticed that your name is strikingly similar to that of our opponents?" Sonic glared.

"Your anger is unfounded, Sonic. I am only here to help. Saving the dimension is in everyone's best interest."

"I bet you're just a spy for the shadows, just like Bowser!"

"Oh, please. There's no need to be irrational."

To Sonic, Shadow was infuriatingly calm as he refuted Sonic.

"Stop it, you too." Knuckles admonished. "We're all on the same team now."

"Yeah, Sonic. It's not worth it." Tails soothed.

Sonic glared icily at Shadow and turned away. Shadow shrugged, and walked over to talk to the other villains.

"Anyone else?" Master Hand pressed, ignoring the internal conflicts.

"Count me in!" another person shouted. Apocalypse immediately recognized the voice as Wolverine's. He wasn't surprised at all that Wolverine would volunteer for this battle.

"Wolverine, right?" Master Hand asked. "Good to have your support."

Apocalypse stood up. "If any of you are counting on my protection during the war, you'll be disappointed. I will be in the back, catching the stragglers before they reach this central building. So I suggest that if you're afraid, go up and hide amongst the real fighters."

"Er…thank you, Apocalypse." Master Hand sighed. He hadn't exactly wanted his friends to have to worry about saving any cowards, but it was too late now. Fortunately, no one seemed eager to admit that they were cowards.

"Hasn't it been a week yet, boss?" a shadow whined. "I'm getting bored!"

"It has been four days." Anomaly replied, unusually patient. "Go train."

"I still don't understand why we can't just attack now."

"You'll see." Anomaly replied, grinning. "You'll see."

"Listen, everyone," Clyne interrupted Master Hand's persistent recruiting. "We know that Anomaly knows we're here. He's probably planning something huge, or he would have attacked and tried to catch us off guard."

"Good point, Clyne." Master Hand agreed. "We need to be extra careful, and be on guard at all times."

"Area you surea?" Mario put in. "Maybe that'sa what he wantsa."

"Why would he want us to be on our guard?" Master Hand wondered.

Mario shrugged. "Justa a thought."

Master Hand nodded. "Anyway, we need people scouting 24/7. Mario, you can start, and…"

Master Hand continued giving out assignments until every group had guard duty once a day. Of course, some groups were assigned times in the middle of the night.

"Are you sure this is necessary?" Ness complained. "I need lots of sleep."

"You'll be in the day, then," Master Hand shot back. "We need to be always vigilant."

"That's not fair! I can't work at night!" Kirby protested, after receiving his 2 a.m. assignment.

"We'll alternate," Master Hand sighed. "Stop whining. This is the only way."

"You see?" Anomaly grinned.

"Yes, I get it! They'll have to stay up and tire themselves out! Then they'll be weak when we attack!"

"Exactly."

"OK, I'm going to ask one more time." Master Hand sighed. "Are there any more volunteers?"

Silence reigned for a long time. Suddenly, a weak voice came from the back. 

"I'll help."

Master Hand stared at Apocalypse oddly, then at Clyne. He said, "No, I don't think you want to."

"Come on, Master Hand, let him come!" Clyne argued. What was he thinking?

"No, he's not strong enough." Master Hand protested.

"Come forward." Clyne directed. "Ignore this glove."

"Thank you." The voice replied.

As he stepped forward, the original fourteen smashers – and Clyne – recognized the volunteer immediately. Master Hand shook what would be his head.

"_Juvenor_?"

(A/N: If that word means nothing to you, go read my 3rd fic. Also, yes, I have noticed that the war hasn't started yet. Don't worry, it will next chapter.)


	4. First Strike

Chapter 4: First Strike

Clyne, surprisingly, was the first to regain his composure. The original twelve smashers, and Master Hand, were too shocked to react, but Clyne ran forward eagerly.

"Juvenor, I don't believe it! How did you survive? Where have you been? It's so good to see you!"

Juvenor stood with an odd expression on his face. "I'm sorry…do I know you?"

Clyne's amazed smile froze. He stared at Juvenor. "Come on, stop fooling around," he said, not knowing what to think, his smile completely artificial now. "It's me, Clyne."

"I'm afraid you have confused me with someone else." Juvenor replied.

Clyne stood there unmoving for what seemed like forever, until Apocalypse broke in.

"We…made an action figure of him to honor his bravery. I…didn't realize he had any friends…"

Glaring darkly, Clyne whirled around to face Apocalypse. "I'm sure he's very grateful."

Before anyone could say anything, Clyne turned around again and started walking away.

Mario moved forward to stop him, but Master Hand blocked the path.

"Let him go," Master Hand whispered.

"I don't get it," Marth said slowly. "Who was that?"

"That was Clyne's former best friend." Samus replied. "He must have been devastated when Juvenor died, and then to see him alive again…"

She shook her head sadly.

"I'lla go witha him." Dr. Mario volunteered. "I ama a doctor, buta I also tooka some psychology classesa."

"Gooda idea." Mario replied, and the doctor went to follow Clyne.

Master Hand was the first to bring everyone back to reality. "Any more volunteers?"

"You said you wouldn't ask anymore." Mario whispered. Master Hand laughed quietly and shrugged as best as a glove could.

Three days later, the group of Mario, Sonic, Pichu, and Maska found themselves with guard duty at 3 a.m. in the morning.

"I hate this." Sonic groaned. "I need my beauty sleep."

"That'sa for sure." Mario grinned.

"Not funny…" Sonic replied with mock warning.

"Pichu." Pichu sighed, looking very tired himself.

"If you all want to go to sleep, I'll take over…" Maska suggested.

"No, that's," Sonic began, then yawned heavily, "OK."

"It's been a week, Sire."

"Will you be patient? I was just about to give the order! It's best that we attack at night anyway. This way everyone will be tired out."

"Finally…"

"Attack!"

"Pi!" Pichu shouted, pointing at the sky.

"Yesa, Pichu, starsa." Mario sighed, trying to keep his eyes open.

"Pichu!" Pichu insisted loudly.

"What do you w-" Maska stopped, seeing a hole open in the sky. "They're coming."

Mario bolted upright, and Sonic opened his eyes fully. "Sound the alarm, Pichu!" they cried simultaneously.

Pichu dashed over to a nearby microphone and squeaked into it. Just then, shadows began to fall out of the dark portal.

As the shadows landed, the dark buildings became alive little by little, as Pichu's squeaking slowly won everyone's attention. Master Hand was the first to actually come out, and he started barking orders to whichever half-asleep fighters he could find. Within minutes, the entire group of front-line fighters had assembled, and they grouped together to block the onslaught of shadows. Pichu stopped squeaking, out of breath, as thousands of toys poured out of their homes to fight.

"Why did it have to be so early…" Fox whined. "I was having such a nice dream…"

"Get over it." Falco shouted to his shipmate. "They obviously planned to attack when we were all weak and tired. We're going to prove them wrong."

The smashers realized the truth of Falco's comment, and began attacking shadows mercilessly.

"The battle is joined, sire."

"It's about time," another shadow put in. "Why can't I go down again?"

"I want them to think that our entire army is down there already to get their hopes up…hello, what's _this_?"

"Go away, doc. Nothing you say will bring him back for real."

"Ia know, but-"

"And quit with the goddamn accent!"

Dr. Mario stopped suddenly, surprised. "How did you know?"

"I heard Mario talking to Master Hand without an accent. I figured you'd be the same."

"You're very perceptive, Clyne," Dr. Mario said, impressed. "Now, about this problem…"

"I told you, I don't want to talk about it."

"I want you to talk about it. Maybe I can help."

"You can help by leaving-" Clyne began, but stopped short, looking behind the doctor and holding up his staff.

Sonic curled into a ball and fired himself at a group of shadows like a bowling ball. He grinned, and stood up. "Sonic wind!" he shouted, sending a tornado-like attack at another group. He darted away just in time to avoid a shadow's deadly punch.

"Look out, Sonic!" Knuckles shouted. He had just battered an unfortunate shadow into pulp, and looked up just in time to watch Sonic dart carelessly into the waiting arms of another shadow. Suddenly, the shadow fell over inexplicably. Balendin stood behind, holding his shortsword proudly.

"Thanks." Sonic muttered.

Captain Commando was using his friends to the fullest, but they came a bit too slowly. Soon, he was caught by a shadow's punch, which sent him reeling.

Shadow turned around just in time to see the captain collapsed. He rushed over at the same time as Sonic.

"Get out of here," Sonic hissed, "You spy."

Shadow glared back. "Watch your back, hero."

Sonic turned around just in time, and Shadow shouted, "Disappear!"

A bolt of lightning dispersed the shadows around the captain's unconscious figure. Shadow pushed him aside, out of the way.

Sonic felled his opponent with a fiery somersault, then turned back to confront Shadow again. But he was gone, off to find more targets.

Juvenor was firing mercilessly at the shadows with his usual pinpoint accuracy. Unfortunately, he was not very good at hand-to-hand combat. Although his accuracy was superb, there were just too many shadows. Luckily, Gerick arrived, swinging his sword valiantly.

Suddenly, Samus stopped short, and ducked as a shadow leapt over her head. "Wait a minute! What about Clyne?"

Juvenor shouted, "I'm going after him."

"I'm coming too." Shadow put in. Everyone stared in shock, but the black hedgehog was already skating away.

"Let me accompany you, Juvenor," Gerick suggested. "Just in case."

"Thanks." Juvenor replied, and started running.

Shadow was quite far ahead, but he turned around just in time to see another hole opening behind him.

"Go!" Gerick shouted. "Get Clyne. We'll take care of this and be right with you!"

Shadow reluctantly ran ahead.

"This is working well, Sire."

"It is, isn't it? And we still have huge armies to go! And I like this divide and conquer strategy. Let's try it again."

Anomaly laughed evilly as he watched the fierce battles. The remaining shadows joined in.

"This dimension is as good as mine!"

(A/N: There, you happy now? The war started. Will Clyne and Dr. Mario be OK? Will Shadow reach them in time? Will Juvenor and Gerick get to them? Who will be the next target of Anomaly's divide and conquer strategy? And just how many more shadows are there? Dun dun dun….)


	5. Divide and Conquer

Chapter 5: Divide and Conquer

(A/N: Not a very original chapter title, huh? Oh well.)

Clyne struggled desperately, but to no avail. A shadow held him tightly from behind, and another three were standing guard. A fifth shadow was winding up to knock Clyne out, or worse. Clyne couldn't see Dr. Mario anywhere, either. His staff was out of his reach, and a shadow was about to pick it up. Just as he closed his eyes and awaited the inevitable, he heard a voice behind him.

"Disappear!"

The shadows holding him did indeed disappear, and Clyne soon found his staff in his hands again. He swung it, KOing the rest of the shadows around him. Clyne looked around to identify his rescuer.

"Shadow?"

"Yes, it's me." Shadow had raced around to pick up Clyne's staff before the shadow, and now he was light dashing through other ones (A/N: I'm just going to say that it works like Fox's forward b). Dr. Mario appeared, tossing Megavitamins.

"Sorry-" he began, then noticed Shadow. "Ahem. Sorrya, I wasa busy backa there."

"No problem. Shadow, why did you come to help me?" Clyne asked.

"Well, it didn't seem smart to stay in the same area as Sonic," Shadow replied. "He'd be too busy watching me to fight."

"Truea," the doctor agreed. "It'sa a reala shame."

Dr. Mario swung his cape and was able to smash a shadow out of the way. It faded to nothing, but there were many more coming in its place.

Clyne was swinging his staff as quickly as he could, but even he was slowly being overwhelmed. A shadow was even able to grab his staff. Clyne lost his momentum, but twisted his torso violently, sending the shadow flying off into a nearby wall.

"We're going to need some help." Clyne panted.

"Juvenor and Gerick should be on their way," Shadow reported. "They got held up."

Gerick proved a better swordsman than anyone had expected, slashing shadows with deadly accuracy and power. Every so often, he'd also pull out a crossbow that he used to take out distant opponents. Of course, Juvenor amply handled most of these distant opponents.

"You're quite the brawler, Gerick." Juvenor complimented.

"Yeah, well, you're very handy with a gun." Gerick replied. "Look out!"

Juvenor ducked as an arrow pierced a shadow behind him. Juvenor raised his gun to fell another enemy.

"We make quite a team," Juvenor commented, "But we need to get to Clyne."

Gerick nodded. "They don't seem to have any intention of letting up," he reported.

"Well, we won't let up either," Clyne responded gravely, firing right through a shadow's head. 

Jigglypuff's song put several nearby shadows to sleep, and Roy capitalized on the opportunity with a powerful Flare Blade. Then, Jigglypuff floated up and pounded two shadows out of the air. Roy turned around to jump up and Blazer another group.

Master Hand used his missiles cleverly, keeping several shadows at bay, but his attacks were somewhat slow. Mario loyally kept shadows at a distance with his Mario Tornado and fireballs.

Suddenly, a shadow grabbed Zelda from behind and teleported away.

Link ran toward a distant flash of light, where he assumed the shadow had appeared. Maska followed behind, concentrating his mind power. Tails rushed over to offer his help.

As they approached the area, they saw that a phalanx of shadows awaited them. Maska made an intimidating hand movement, then pointed to the shadows below.

"The forecast calls for a 100% chance of Demonic Psychic Storm!" he shouted melodramatically, as the sky darkened.

"Cheesy." Tails muttered.

"But effective." Link replied, as bolts of lightning struck every shadow. Maska nearly collapsed, having used so much energy, but managed to follow the others to Zelda.

"Are you OK?" Link asked worriedly.

"Look out!" she shouted in reply, as another group of shadows appeared. Tails glanced at Maska, who shrugged and pulled out a wand of some sort. It suddenly combusted, and Maska started shooting fireballs at the shadows. Tails did his own spin dash attack, and also swung his tails around to KO other shadows. Link hacked furiously, shooting a fire arrow every so often, and Zelda called on Nayru's Love to protect her.

Falcon groaned, tiring out. There were so many shadows, and they didn't seem to be giving up. He was just barely able to pull off a Falcon Punch, with the help of Kirby.

Ness was also starting to lose his adrenaline rush. His mind started shutting down, and he barely succeeded in restarting it enough for a PK Fire attack. Ganondorf smashed several away, but he was slowing down, which was a big problem for him. Bowser's Flame Breath was starting to lose its potency, and he was getting dizzy from spinning around so much. Even the untiring Sonic wasn't moving as fast as usual.

"Why are there so many shadows?" Marth complained, expressing the feelings of everyone.

Wolverine hacked open a group of shadows, and turned to Master Hand.

"Hey, I respect you and all, buddy, but what are you doing?"

Master Hand was floating inexplicably stationary a few inches above the battlefield. The shadows seemed to be ignoring him.

Suddenly, Master Hand shot forward and grabbed Wolverine.

"Hey!" Wolverine barked.

"Oha no," Mario said, turning around. "Master Hand'sa become corrupteda again!"

"He recovered by himself last time." Samus pointed out. "Maybe…"

Master Hand laughed the evil laugh that had not been heard for so long. "This time I'm too strong for that weakling glove! You're finished!"

Mario and Samus shrugged, and charged toward Master Hand. The glove floated backward, leading the two away from the group, and still holding Wolverine.

"Sire, we are running out of troops, and none of the smashers have died yet."

"What? How is that possible?"

"I don't know. They are stronger than we anticipated."

"Go down there! Send everyone else except this last group!"

"That doesn't make any sense at all, sir, with all due respect. If they continue to annihilate us, we will be completely unable to conquer any other dimensions even if we do win this one, which is not entirely likely."

"Hmm, perhaps you're right. Maybe we should just give up."

"Sire?"

"You fool! Have you forgotten about our elite shadows?"

"Um…what?"

"Never mind. Just send them down."

"If you're sure-"

"GO!"

"Shadow, Juvenor, Clyne, Doc, and Gerick haven't come back yet." Falcon commented. "I'm going to make sure they're OK."

"Pika!" Pikachu cried, following Falcon.

"I'm coming too." DK volunteered.

"Be careful!" Yoshi shouted, tossing an egg to disband a group of shadows.

Gerick and Juvenor were stopped by another group of smashers, but just before they started to attack, Falcon, DK, and Pikachu joined them.

"Hey, thanks for coming." Juvenor greeted.

"Where are the others?" Falcon asked.

"Farther ahead," Gerick grunted, slicing open a shadow.

"Great." DK sighed, looking forward at the veritable wall of shadows.

Mewtwo fired a shadow ball at a shadow, then used confusion on another. His mental powers were more resilient than Ness's, as it were, so he was still going strong. However, he knew that he would tire eventually, so he tried to conserve his strength.

Balendin raised his sword, and magically hurled a rock at an oncoming group of shadows. He quickly spun around just in time to slice open another, and then summoned a shield around him to block another shadow's attack. He was using a lot of magic, and knew he'd have to cut down.

Pichu was careful not to use too much electricity, to avoid causing damage to himself. He therefore just threw shadows around and jump-kicked them. This required more energy, though, and when he stopped to take a breath, he usually had to use thunder to keep shadows away.

The Ice Climbers were busy pummeling shadows together. As a team, they expended less energy individually, but they also had to fight twice as many opponents together. Luckily, their icy breath kept opponents generally at a distance, and their ice shots took out farther ones. If shadows got close, their hammers made short work of it. They were still going fairly strong, but knew their limits.

"Sire, everyone is down except this last group, and we don't seem to be doing any better-"

"Thank you for the report of the goddamn obvious. Is there anything else you'd like to comment on? How attractively black I'm looking today, maybe?" Anomaly shot back, dripping with sarcasm.

Anomaly's assistant took a moment to recognize the sarcasm. "Sire, it seems to me that we should give up with this dimension and-"

"GIVE UP?" Anomaly roared. "You dare to suggest that to me? You do not realize our true power, do you?"

"Well, in all honesty, I just am not seeing our 'true power' down there."

"You have a point. Well, what do you propose?"

"I told you. Try another dimension. Wait another decade or so to try this one again."

"No, no, they'll be even more prepared for us. We need to finish them all off quickly now, or we'll have no chance. Keep dividing them into groups, then send each group an elite. That should be sufficient."

"You think so?"

"Of course! The elite are my masterpieces. If anything can defeat them, it's me."

"I trust your judgment again, sire."

"As well you should. Now go!"

In the increasingly empty dimension of Eclipsia (A/N: Yes, the shadows are in Eclipsia. Read my 5th fic), Anomaly was actually starting to feel worried. Is it possible that the smashers could defeat him? Then he grinned, turning around. He looked at the army behind him and started laughing. There was no way that the smashers could overcome _these_ shadows.


	6. Big Problems

Chapter 6: Big Problems

Knuckles punched a shadow as hard as he could. "How's it going, Sonic?"

"Not too bad, I guess," Sonic replied, light dashing through a shadow. "I wish these things would let up, though."

"Doesn't seem likely," Falco put in from behind, proceeding to roundhouse a shadow. 

Ness swung his bat and hit a shadow squarely on the head. He always felt a thrill whenever he heard the "ping" sound effect that ensured a solid hit.

Young Link grinned as his fire arrow knocked out a shadow. He was still somewhat bitter about his name change, but he wouldn't trade this adventure for anything. Suddenly, a shadow came from behind and punched. Young Link stumbled forward and lost consciousness.

"No!" Ganondorf shouted, rushing over. He cleared the area with a smash, then dragged Young Link's body over next to Commando's. He shot back into the war zone with his Gerudo Dragon, which also sent a few shadows flying.

Mario and Samus mercilessly attacked Master Hand until he recovered and dropped Wolverine. The four of them, of course, found themselves surrounded by shadows. Wolverine wasted no time in charging forward and slashing them to pieces.

Maska's wand shot small fireballs that made short work of the shadows, while Zelda had transformed into Shiek to use her chain. Tails was spin dashing around, keeping shadows out of the way. Suddenly, Maska grunted with satisfaction and cast another spell. A hole appeared in the sky and sucked a large group of shadows in.

"Telekinesis Vortex," he said, answering the unspoken question.

DK's earthquake kept shadows away from him, but left him vulnerable from the rear. Luckily, Pikachu was there to cover him. Meanwhile, Falcon, Gerick, and Juvenor aggressively attacked the shadows until finally, they stopped coming. They raced forward eagerly to see how Clyne, Juvenor, and the doctor were doing.

Dr. Mario sighed as he smashed another shadow. He was getting tired of fighting, but the shadows showed no similar signs. His Doctor Tornado sent his closer opponents flying away, and then his Super Jump Punch hit another one. Suddenly, he heard voices behind him.

"Falcon! DK! Pikachu! Glad you could make it." Clyne greeted cheerfully. "Oh…" he said, seeing the two behind them. "Gerick, and Juvenor," he stopped, not sure whether to thank his pseudofriend or be angry. Finally he made his decision. "Thanks," he muttered.

"Where's Shadow?" Falcon asked.

"Oh, I think they took him. I couldn't really see or get to him in time. They went that way." Clyne reported.

"We'd better go get him." DK remarked.

"Don't tell Sonic," Gerick joked, but no one laughed.

"Hey, Apocalypse!" Wolverine shouted loudly. "I just thought of something."

"Shoot," Apocalypse replied, bashing a shadow.

"According to the real Wolverine's memories, you have the ability to grow really big."

Apocalypse pondered this for a moment. "Could be."

"Well, it might be a good idea to try it out." Wolverine responded dryly.

Apocalypse did, and began growing quickly. Soon, he towered over the buildings, and shadows began jumping onto him and trying to punch him. Apocalypse spun around and swung his arms, trying to get them off. Wolverine, satisfied with his contribution, returned to Master Hand, Mario, and Samus to help fight.

"Two groups have united, sire, and Apocalypse has grown."

"I know! Here, you're in charge. I'm going down there."

"You're-what?"

"I've got to stop Apocalypse! It'll even the odds, at least!"

"But if he…if you-"

"I'm well aware of the risks. But at this rate…" his voice dropped below his standard confident shout at this point, "it doesn't look like we can do this."

Anomaly's assistant was simultaneously shocked, gladdened, and horrified at hearing Anomaly say that. This meant that Anomaly not only realized the situation, but also was giving in to its hopelessness. Without his utter confidence, what chance did they have?

"When you feel the time is right," Anomaly continued, raising his voice again, "Send down the elite."

"Of course, sire."

Anomaly opened a large portal and stepped in silently. The assistant stood still for a while, and then flung his arms up in desperation. How could he replace his emperor?

Fox used his Fire Fox to rid himself of some shadows, then fired his laser repeatedly. Although the shadows didn't seem affected, Fox ran over and eagerly punched them, sending them flying.

Suddenly, a huge portal appeared above him. All over the place, everyone stopped fighting to see what was happening.

A huge black hand appeared out of the portal, then a foot. Soon, the entire height of the emperor of the shadows blocked out the sun ominously, but didn't cast a shadow.

"Anomaly? Here?" Master Hand gasped.

"This could be a problem." Clyne muttered, realizing that Apocalypse was completely oblivious to the new arrival.

Apocalypse growled as shadows crawled persistently onto his face. He raised his powerful arm and hit himself in the face to rid himself of them.

"Oh, did you need help with that?" a voice behind Apocalyse asked evilly.

Apocalypse turned around instinctively to meet a huge fist heading for his head. 

"No!" Balendin shouted as the huge blue figure of Apocalypse began toppling toward the ground, threatening to crush thousands of action figures and shadows.

"Get out of the way!" Sonic raced over to the impending crash zone and frantically pushed some of the slower fighters away. Just in time, he emerged from under the shadow of Apocalypse, and the ground shook from the impact.

No longer able to concentrate only on the gargantuans, Clyne and the others were forced to return to resume fighting the shadows. 

"Gerick," Clyne panted, "Go on forward and see if you can find out what happened to Shadow. Take Juvenor and Pikachu with you."

"Pika!" the rodent shouted, and the three of them left. 

"Meanwhile…" Clyne continued, grinning, "We get the fun job!"

DK swung his huge fist, taking out a group of shadows. Falcon's kick devastated another group, and Clyne cut through the opposition like a knife through butter.

The shadows kept coming, though. DK sighed, swinging his arm tiredly to relieve it from aching.

"One of these days," Maska groaned, "These shadows will stop coming."

This elicited a half-hearted laugh from Link and Zelda, while Tails was too far away to hear. The four fighters seemed to be making progress in their shadow-slaying, but they were hardly finished.

"Yeah, well," Link replied to Maska, "There can't be an unlimited number, can there?"

Maska, the powerful wizard, stared dryly at Link in reply. To accentuate his point, Maska summoned a powerful fireball and hurled it at a shadow.

"Magic?" Link asked. Maska shrugged.

"It's a possibility."

"You think magic is maintaining their numbers?" Zelda asked.

"What else could be? Look at how fast we're killing them!"

"Or else there are just a whole lot of them." Link put in.

Maska shook his head. "I recognize magic when I see it."

"Face it, Apocalypse," Anomaly laughed. "You've lost. You can't beat me."

Apocalypse groaned on the ground and tried to ignore his taunting opponent.

"Give up!" continued Anomaly. "You and your dimension don't stand a chance! You might as well surrender now and avoid the death toll."

"Never!" Apocalypse shouted, swinging his legs and tripping Anomaly. The giant shadow stumbled forward, and Apocalypse got up and punched him in the stomach. Anomaly collapsed.

Anomaly's assistant watched from Eclipsia. "That does it," he thought.

He turned to the patient elite shadows. "Go." He ordered. The large group of warriors entered different portals, appearing in different battles. Anomaly's assistant sighed, alone at last in Eclipsia. He began to laugh evilly, looking at the vast emptiness that had been filled with eager shadows for so long. Now that the elite had arrived, the odds would be reduced greatly for the smashers, and the dimension would be won. Fortunately, Anomaly did not know about the assistant's capabilities. 

"We've got company!" Mewtwo groaned, looking up.

"I don'ta believe it." Mario moaned.

Falling out of an airborne portal was none other than the huge mutant, Giga Bowser.

(A/N: You may be wondering why none of the smashers have died yet, if this is a war. Well, don't worry, that will soon be amended. And _no complaining about who'll get killed_! It will be random.)


	7. The Elite

(A/N: If you haven't read my 5th fic yet, do so! You'll find out why Giga Bowser is here!)

Chapter 7: The Elite

Giga Bowser landed right in the middle of the main battle. Roaring loudly, he beckoned to his neighbors to challenge him.

"OK, Giga Bowser," Marth said, stepping forward. "Let's go."

"You're not fighting without me!" Roy protested.

"Let us come!" the Ice Climbers put in.

"I'm coming too." Peach volunteered. "It's about time I had revenge on a Bowser."

Marth and Roy looked at her oddly for a moment, then shrugged and chased Giga Bowser off to a remote area.

_If Clyne could beat this freak by himself_, Marth thought (but in Japanese), _the three of us should have no problem_!

"I can'ta believe thata mutant camea back," Mario sighed to Samus and Master Hand. Wolverine just looked on, puzzled, then shouted, "Hey! We've got company!"

A large shadow appeared in front of the four fighters. It looked rather normal, as shadows go, but it was very large.

"Whaddaya want, bub?" Wolverine growled, holding his claws offensively.

Instead of answering, the shadow proceeded to change shape. Bending over forward, it became a large black tank.

"What the-" Samus gasped, as the tank rolled forward, firing black balls of energy.

Mario tried to shoot a fireball at it, but it bounced off.

"I am Morphshadow!" the tank whirred.

Maska, Link, Zelda, and Tails regrouped, having destroyed all of the shadows, when they saw a larger shadow appear. It seemed to be wearing a cloak, and carrying some sort of stick. Maska prepared his mind for battle.

"I am Magishadow!" the shadow shouted. 

"Magic?" Maska snorted. "You couldn't do magic if your life depended on it!"

Maska held his hands to his head and closed his eyes. "Mind Focus!" he shouted, naming his spell, as a bright beam of magic shot from his head to the shadow. The shadow laughed as all of the energy fell harmlessly on his torso. Magishadow's body began glowing with Maska's energy, until he fired off the excess in a huge blast. Link barely managed to duck in time, but he held up his Mirror Shield to reflect it back onto the shadow. Magishadow laughed as the beam passed right through the shield.

"That's impossible!" Link gasped.

Juvenor, Pikachu, and Gerick returned to the victorious Clyne, DK, Dr. Mario, and Falcon with a report. "Shadow is being held in a small building, but it's next to impossible to get to him."

"I doubt it," Clyne replied, still unable to accept the gunman's equality to the Juvenor he knew.

"See for yourself." Gerick suggested.

The group of seven hiked along, until they came to a huge metal wall. Down the middle was a corridor that seemed pretty innocuous. At the end of the corridor was, indeed, a small building.

"What's the big deal?" DK wondered, stepping forward.

"NO!" Juvenor shouted, holding DK back.

Gerick held up his crossbow. "Watch this," he said gravely.

He aimed his bow straight down the corridor and fired. As soon as it passed the threshold of the metal barrier, a hole opened on the wall of the corridor on either side and shot out a spear. The arrow just barely flew past. This pattern continued all the way down, until the arrow was eventually hit by a spear. All of the spears remained exposed, then shrank back to their hiding places.

"Whoa," was all Dr. Mario could say.

"That-could be a problem." Falcon surmised.

"Obviously," Clyne reported, "we need something, or someone, faster than Gerick's arrow."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Gerick grinned.

Sonic raced past two shadows' punches to find Knuckles and some others facing a hulking brute-looking shadow. Mewtwo and Ness were at the fore, firing off manifestations of psychic power. Mr. Game & Watch was beeping away too, swinging a small hammer and flinging sausages (bacon?), and ringing that stupid bell. Balendin and Ganondorf were also there, attacking in their own ways. Sonic decided to help them out, when suddenly Mewtwo stiffened.

Sonic…

Sonic skidded to a halt, hearing a voice in his head. He quickly realized that Mewtwo was communicating with him telepathically.

Sonic, the team that went after Clyne needs your help.

Oh, I'd be glad to help them. Sonic thought back.

That's good. Go to them.

Anything for the team. Sonic replied, and dashed away. Mewtwo chuckled, knowing that Sonic would change his tune.

"Looka out!" Mario shouted to Samus, as the tank-shadow rolled past. Although it was slow at turning, its energy cannons packed a punch, as Wolverine found out. His healing factor kept him going, but Mario could see that Wolverine was being extra careful not to be hit.

It didn't seem to matter, though. As a tank, this opponent was nigh invulnerable. Mario smashed it repeatedly, but the tank just kept turning until its barrel was in line with Mario's chest. When it fired, Mario swung his cape just in time, and the blast was reflected back at Morphshadow. Despite its effectiveness against the smashers, though, it had as little effect on itself as the smashers did. Mario groaned and continued smashing, as the barrel slowly turned away to menace Master Hand.

Giga Bowser roared and breathed fire. The Ice Climbers tried to counter with their ice attack, but Giga Bowser was much stronger. Roy snuck up from behind and silently charged his Flare Blade, but the mutant noticed just in time and spun around in its shell, sending both Roy flying from the back, and the Ice Climbers from the front. Marth and Peach approached, and Giga Bowser headbutted Peach. She was ready, though. Her trusty servant Toad took the hit and reflected it back to Giga Bowser, who roared in pain and fell over. Marth wasted no time in using his Dancing Blade to further injure the deformed Bowser.

"Nice work, Peach!" Marth shouted.

Peach nodded in reply, too focused on the rising Giga Bowser to answer.

Magishadow laughed cruelly as he fired a shower of sparks from his wand. Zelda couldn't activate Nayru's Love in time, and shouted in pain. Maska stepped forward, trying another spell.

"Mind Vortex!" he shouted, sending a glowing tornado at the sorcerer. The cyclone, unfortunately, went right past Magishadow's outstretched arm and disappeared harmlessly around the shadow's body.

Link sighed in frustration and charged forward, swinging his sword angrily. Magishadow laughed scornfully and fired a bolt of lightning out of his wand. Link flew backward and collapsed.

Tails stared helplessly, then noticed a group of shadows approaching from the rear. He resolved to take care of them.

"_What_?" Sonic shouted, furious. "You called me over so I could save _him_?"

"That's right," Clyne replied, glaring. "We're all part of a team. Even Mario and Bowser are working as a team!"

"If Mario is foolish enough to let his guard down-" Sonic began, but Juvenor interrupted.

"You think you're so righteous?" he asked caustically. "Once a villain, always a villain? No one can change?"

"You don't know him," Sonic scowled.

"Obviously, you don't either! He's made many contributions over here, and he saved Clyne's life."

"That was just a façade so he wouldn't have to deal with me." Sonic replied haughtily.

Juvenor threw his hands into the air in desperation. "Sonic, you're hopeless."

"Hold it! I said the same thing about Mewtwo and Ness, and now they're best of buddies."

"Mewtwo and Ness?" Sonic gasped. They always seemed so friendly!

"Oh, yeah! They argued constantly over who had better psychic powers! We almost had to send Mewtwo back!"

Sonic couldn't believe his ears. If Mewtwo and Ness used to be bitter rivals, could he and Shadow actually-

No. He couldn't give up on his suspicions now, not in the middle of a war!

"Sonic, we need you. The team needs you." Falcon put in. "We're not asking you to help a friend, we're asking you to help a teammate."

Sonic closed his eyes in thought, and opened them a few moments later. He nodded slowly.

"What do you need me to do?" he asked.

"Say, just out of curiosity," Ganondorf asked as he charged his smash, "Did anyone bother to keep track of the unconscious bodies that were over there?"

"Um-" Balendin glanced over, only to confirm Ganondorf's worries, "Yep, they're gone."

"Great."

Anomaly's assistant laughed as he watched the elite battle. None of the smashers were making headway except the fools trying to save Shadow. He had a special challenge in store for them. Anomaly and Apocalypse were basically at a standoff, but whenever either one fell over, they inevitably crushed many fighters on both sides. It was only a matter of time before victory was assured.

(A/N: Now that the elite have arrived, do the smashers stand a chance? And will Sonic be able to outrace the traps and his anxiety to save Shadow?

Also, in an unprecedented request (at least for me), I would like some suggestions for the name of Anomaly's assistant (because, in case you haven't noticed, he doesn't have one yet). Include your idea in a review. Thanks!)


	8. Making Headway

Chapter 8: Making Headway

"Sonic, you need to run as fast as you can down this corridor," Gerick explained. "Spears will be shooting out at you. Use your Sonic Wind to destroy the spears as they come out."

Sonic nodded, looking nervously at the long corridor. Sure, he was fast, but if he slowed down a bit, he'd be dead. And all this for his adversary.

"Come on, Sonic," DK pleaded, "do it for the team."

Sonic stepped up to the corridor and dashed forward, shouting "Sonic Wind!" Instantly, spears began shooting out of the wall. Sonic raced ahead, as he felt the gust of wind behind him of each spear. The blue tornado created by Sonic's attack eliminated all the spears behind him. Sonic gasped as he made it to the end, not sure whether to stop or not. When he finally skidded to a halt, he heard cheering from the other side. Sonic bowed proudly, then stopped as he heard a loud noise behind him, and then a shout.

"Die!"

Without turning around, Sonic recognized that voice immediately.

Shadow.

"Look out!" Knuckles shouted, as their massive opponent swung his fist at Mewtwo. He was too slow, though, and Mewtwo flew backward and into a wall. He sunk to the ground, completely motionless.

"No!" Balendin shouted.

Ness shook his head. "I'm not getting any life signs."

"You-" Ness charged forward with his PK Thunder, which actually seemed to hurt their opponent a bit. Ganondorf followed up with his Warlock Punch, which sent the hulking brute stumbling backward a bit.

Samus fired a missile at the tank, but it transformed back into its regular form to avoid it. Then it punched at Samus. She ducked, and the shadow hit a wall. Bricks fell from the wall and hit Samus, burying her.

"No!" Mario gasped, rushing toward her. Wolverine and Master Hand tried to keep Morphshadow distracted while Mario tried to save Samus.

Eight smashers didn't seem to have anyone to fight. Luigi, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Kirby, Yoshi, Bowser, Falco and Fox were the only ones not involved in a battle with the elite. Fortunately, there were still shadows to fight. Luigi used his Green Missile to dispatch some shadows, and Jigglypuff's rest was incredibly effective at taking out large groups that were all in the same place.

Maska, meanwhile, was getting desperate. His best spells were having no effect, and his teammates were even more useless. He had only one shot left.

"Aah!" Tails shouted in the background, after being grabbed by the last shadow, but Maska paid no attention. He motioned for Link and Zelda to distract Magishadow as he prepared for his last-ditch effort, closing his eyes.

Magishadow grinned as he casually launched fireballs at his distractors. He glanced at Maska, but it was too late for him.

The powerful wizard's eyes darted open. "Xentath!" he shouted. There was an eerie silence for a moment, as everyone contemplated what Maska had just said.

Suddenly, the entire world flashed black. For a second, no one could see. Then, everything turned to white, and then finally back to normal.

As their eyes adjusted, Link and Zelda eventually saw Magishadow, quite defeated, on the ground, and Maska trying desperately to stand upright. They gasped as a shadow came up from behind and punched with all its might.

"No!" Tails bawled, running up from behind after dealing with his attacker. Maska fell forward rapidly, and hit the floor hard.

"I-I'm sorry-" the fox sobbed miserably.

"It's OK. We'll take him and bury-" Zelda soothed.

"No. We're moving on." Link said firmly.

"Wha-" Zelda questioned, her eyes filled with confusion and disgust at his indifference.

"This is war," Link reminded them sternly, "People die. We have to move on and help the others."

"And just leave him here?" Tails gasped.

Link turned away and started walking. Zelda shook her head, slowly stood up, and followed. Tails lay on the floor, staring at Maska's bloody corpse with tears in his eyes. Finally, he stood up, and joined the others.

The Ice Climbers swung their hammers angrily, knocking Giga Bowser backward. Marth was on hand with a smash. Roy grinned, preparing to Blazer, but the mutant anticipated Roy, recovered from his damage, and kicked Roy in the head. Peach stepped up and launched a vegetable at Giga Bowser, but he caught it scornfully and ate it. Peach giggled.

"You're not supposed to eat those vegetables, Giga Bowser. They're poisonous!"

The mutant roared angrily. "What?!"

Giga Bowser made an odd gurgling noise, then collapsed.

"Nice work, Peach!" Marth laughed, amazed.

Peace grinned and taunted. "Suh-weet!"

"Let's go help the others," Popo suggested.

"I don't know…it just seems too easy…" Roy mused.

With that, Giga Bowser laughed evilly and jumped up, knocking over Nana and Peach with his Whirling Fortress. "It is!" he shouted in response to Roy.

Sonic turned around to see Shadow leaping at him. Instinctively, Sonic dove to the ground and summoned a Sonic Wind to cover him. Upon touching the attack, Shadow exploded.

"Wha-"

The others tried to investigate, but the spears all shot out again.

"Uh oh." Falcon commented.

Suddenly, they felt a great rumbling, as the ground just in front of the wall began to crack open. A huge head poked out of the ground, as the walls surrounding the spear traps also collapsed. The spears remained in the same place, and the smashers noted that they were all on the end of long wires. The head kept growing until a gigantic robot with wiry spears replacing arms appeared.

"Uh oh is right." Clyne sighed.

Sonic gasped as Shadows began leaping out of the ground from all over him.

"I hope you enjoy my creations," came a voice from inside the house. The door opened, and an average-sized shadow stepped out. "Call me Roboshadow."

Roboshadow calmly walked over to the side and pulled out a shadowy computer, and began typing. The Shadow robots instantly began skating around in various routes around the bewildered blue hedgehog, and the spear robot lifted its spears offensively.

"En garde," the robot rumbled.

Apocalypse, meanwhile, was becoming very frustrated. His battle with Anomaly was leaning toward the monotonous, as his attacks were met by quick blocks and vice versa. Occasionally Anomaly would try to make things interesting by tossing a round of shadows at him, but Apocalypse pretty much shook them off whenever he attacked. Every so often one of them landed a blow, but not a very powerful one.

"You're a strong fighter," Anomaly wheezed, somehow out of breath. "You'd make a good shadow."

Apocalypse laughed darkly. "You'd make a good toy."

With a chuckle, Anomaly swung his fist at his opponent. Apocalypse ducked and tried a sweep. Anomaly couldn't avoid it, but regained his balance quickly. 

"Very good," mused the mutant. Apocalypse rolled his eyes. Anomaly was as bored with the battle as he was.

"Let's make this interesting," Apocalypse suggested, raising his arm. He grew even bigger, and Anomaly looked on, failing to conceal his worry.

"Very impressive," he said, raising his own arm. As he did, the ground beneath him turned black.

"This area is the beginning of my control," Anomaly announced. "Soon the whole dimension will be blackened."

Indeed, the small black area was spreading slowly. Apocalypse cursed himself for not paying enough attention, and attempted to catch Anomaly off guard.

Anomaly swung his arm, and a mountain of black land rose to deflect the attack. Apocalypse stared in shock. Laughing, Anomaly punched his foe in the face, and then extended a block of land to block Apocalypse's stumble backward. Apocalypse lost his balance completely and toppled over.

Anomaly's assistant (A/N: Wow, what great suggestions I've gotten so far for his name. Come on, people, be creative) looked on with amusement. Anomaly was certainly faring well. Apocalypse's growth gave Anomaly the distraction he needed. As the black area spread, he'd gain control of the landscape. And, of course, Roboshadow's creations certainly daunted the rescue party. Of course, it was unfortunate that Magishadow was defeated. Oh well.

_I must make absolutely sure that we win_, he thought. _I must go down there_.

A moment later, Eclipsia was completely empty.

(A/N: Long, huh? Well, it certainly isn't showing any signs of slowing down. I predict at _least_ two more chapters. What will Anomaly's (nameless) assistant contribute to the war effort? And will Sonic and the others be able to rescue Shadow?)


	9. Evening the Odds

(A/N: Thanks to the 4 (well…5…) who suggested names for the assistant. After much deliberation, I have chosen The Skiver's interesting name of Aelali. OK, on with the war.)

Chapter 9: Evening the Odds

Samus gasped for breath as she punched through the bricks on top of her. Mario rushed over worriedly.

"Are you OK?" he whispered. She nodded weakly. "Luckily my armor protected me – look out!" she shouted suddenly.

Mario ducked just as a blast flew over his head. Mario grabbed Samus's arm and pulled her out of the wreckage.

Wolverine and Master Hand were still largely unsuccessful at harming Morphshadow in tank mode. Luckily, it began to change again, but this time ended up as a huge hawk-like shadow. Screeching, it flew into the air and dive-bombed its opponents.

Link, Zelda, and Tails met up with Luigi and the others who had no Elite opponent. 

"There aren't many shadows left!" Bowser noted.

"Maybe their magic is running out," Link said quietly.

"Magic?" Kirby wondered.

"It was Maska's idea-" Zelda began, then looked at the ground sadly. Everyone else got the point.

"He was a great guy." Fox offered comfortingly. Jigglypuff nodded.

"Enough of your moping, fools!" came a new voice from above.

Looking up, the eleven smashers saw another portal opening.

"Who-"

"Call me Aelali," answered the descending figure. "I am Anomaly's second in command."

"Wella, congratulations," Luigi said sarcastically.

"Do not take that tone with me!" Aelali threatened.

"OK, Mom," Luigi grinned. The smashers laughed.

Screaming in anger, Aelali raised his arm. A huge bolt of power emanated from it, striking Luigi in the head. Luigi cried in pain and collapsed. A black spot appeared at the wound and began sizzling and burning. Luigi moaned, holding his head helplessly.

"Stop it, you'll kill him!" Falco shouted.

"Of course I won't. That would be too easy." Aelali smiled sadistically. "He'll be out of the war for a while, though."

The smashers glared, assuming battle stances.

"You'll pay for that," Link menaced.

Clyne, Juvenor, and Gerick pulled out their weapons and assumed a battle stance.

"Hya!" Gerick shouted, raising his sword.

"What do you mean, hya? You're not actually going to fight that, are you?" Dr. Mario gasped.

But the spears were already descending. Clyne swung his staff magnificently, deflecting and breaking all of the spears threatening him. Gerick did the same with his sword, and Juvenor darted about with his gun.

Falcon and Pikachu shrugged, and leapt forward. Being quick and nimble, they were able to jump from wire to wire, using their arms to swing themselves around. Pikachu's Quick Attack also helped. The robot tried in vain to divert its spears to stab them, but Juvenor's gun and Gerick's crossbow provided enough distraction. DK, who was used to brachiating, swung almost gracefully from wire to wire, not really able to do any damage to the robot, but did break some spears.

Sonic's speed was put to the test as he tried to avoid all of the Shadowbots coming after him. Eventually, he just stopped trying to attack, hoping they'd run into each other in the confusion. Unfortunately, Roboshadow seemed to be very well able to control all of the Shadowbots along with the gargantuan Spearbot.

Falcon, swinging around a wire, hurled himself into the air and Falcon Punched Spearbot in the head. Pikachu used its quick attack to dart around Spearbot's attacks, and used thunder once he reached the head. Spearbot's eyes narrowed as he began swinging wildly.

Dr. Mario was at somewhat of a loss, being neither very good at swinging nor very fast. However, he tried his best to destroy any spear that came his way.

"Arrgh!"

The doctor looked around to see Clyne holding his arm in pain. A spear had slid down the arm, removing a significant amount of skin.

"Holda still." Dr. Mario said, running up to Clyne and pulling out a bandage.

"Doc…you're going to get yourself killed." Clyne managed to say, gasping for breath.

"Bettera you thana me," the doctor replied. "At leasta you cana fight this thinga."

Clyne had no answer to that. He extended his arm and allowed Dr. Mario to work.

Dr. Mario carefully wrapped the bandage around the arm as Juvenor and Gerick took care of the robot.

"Therea. It shoulda be fine for a whilea, just don't usea it too mucha…" Dr. Mario sighed, and looked around. "Nevera mind."

Clyne chuckled. "Thanks, Doc."

Clyne heard only a quick gasp in reply. Looking up, he saw blood fall onto his cape.

"No!"

A spear had gone right through the brave doctor's chest. He was still alive, but not for long.

"You're…" Dr. Mario struggled, "Welcome…"

He slumped over. Spearbot removed the spear, and Dr. Mario fell to the ground.

"_NO_!" Clyne repeated, ignoring the pain in his arm. He grabbed his staff and lunged at Spearbot.

Giga Bowser laughed evilly as Marth and Roy stood to oppose him. Peach was still in shock after her vegetable failed to poison the mutant, and the Ice Climbers were trying to comfort her.

"You think you can beat me?" Giga Bowser laughed.

"I can beat you myself." Roy replied, rushing forward and swinging his sword. His Double Edge Dance sent Giga Bowser to the ground, and his smash kept him there. Giga Bowser retaliated, though, with his own up-smash, sending Roy into the air.

Peach, recovered from her shock, swung a golf club at Giga Bowser, but to no avail. Giga Bowser barely felt the attack, and turned around to flash-fry Peach. However, her trusty companion, Toad, took the heat, and sent it back to Giga Bowser. Then, the Ice Climbers sent a pair of Freezies to slow the monster down. Giga Bowser looked at the Ice Climbers, and quickly reached forward and grabbed Popo.

"No!" Nana shouted.

Before anyone could react, Giga Bowser had thrown Popo with all his might into the wall of the faraway central building. Roy shook his head.

"No way he survived that," he whispered, but Nana heard.

"You killed my brother!" she shrieked, lunging forward with her hammer.

"Don't make me laugh, little girl." Giga Bowser sneered.

Marth came from behind Giga Bowser and pushed him forward with his Dolphin Slash, right into Nana's smash. Since Giga Bowser didn't move very far, Nana proceeded to grab him, hit him with her hammer, then throw him into Marth's waiting blade. Marth's fully charged Shield Breaker sent Giga Bowser to join Popo.

"Nice work, Nana." Marth said, impressed.

"He killed my brother!" she sobbed.

"Yeah…that bastard." Peach put in.

Ness wasn't too happy with his opponent either.

"I don't know why you don't talk, buddy, but you killed Mewtwo. Now you have to pay."

Leaping forward, Ness used his PK Fire to render the brute immobile. Then, he charged up his PK Flash. Just as the shadow broke free of the pyrokinetic pillar, he was blown away by the green ball of energy. Just then, the smashers saw Popo fly into the wall.

"Ouch. I guess they're not doing too well," Knuckles said sadly, lunging forward to deliver a knuckle sandwich. Balendin used his earth magic to create a powerful earthquake to get the shadow off balance, whereupon Knuckles punched powerfully.

"Why doesn't he talk?" Game & Watch wonders.

"Why don't you?" Ganondorf replied.

(A/N: Yes, I know, I haven't had many lines for G&W so far.)

G&W shrugged, and swung his hammer. "Damn…only a 6…" he sighed, as his opponent flew away, temporarily aflame.

Aelali grinned to see the brave smashers oppose him.

"Don't be fools," he warned. "You have no idea who I am, or how much power I have."

Fox glared, brandishing his gun. "We could say the same about you."

"On the contrary, I've been watching you all this time from our dimension! I know exactly what you are and aren't capable of!"

"We'll see about that." Yoshi scowled.

"Puff!"

"Pichu!"

Jigglypuff and Pichu voiced their agreements, and the others nodded.

"If you insist…" Aelali shrugged.

(A/N: Well, I guess I don't need name suggestions for the assistant anymore. And no, I don't need them for Mewtwo's brutish killer, I have one in mind. You'll see. Well, you'll just have to review, then.)


	10. Aelali's Curses

(A/N: Whew…10 chapters. Thanks for reading this much of it; I'm pretty sure there will only be 2-3 more chapters. Oh, and I know the chapter titles aren't very creative. Bear with me.)

Chapter 10: Aelali's Curses

Knuckles grinned as he watched Giga Bowser fly by, following Popo's route.

"That's got to hurt," he mused. "Good for them. Poor Popo, though."

"Why don't you talk?" Ganondorf shouted to his opponent, annoyed. "It's so much easier to taunt you that way!"

The brutish shadow only grunted in reply and swung its fist. Ganondorf barely evaded it.

"Maybe it's too dumb to talk," Balendin jeered, swinging his shortsword and enchanting it with spirit magic. As he hit the shadow, a flash of white appeared around it, and it slumped to its knees.

"Cool spell," Knuckles remarked, using his lightning attack.

"Thanks," the paladin replied, then, "Look out!"

Knuckles leapt just in time to jump over the shadow's large fist. Knuckles landed on top of the fist and dove at the shadow's face, beginning to punch.

Game & Watch was very impressed by the talent of his peers, and was afraid that he wasn't strong enough to be in their league. Just then, the shadow shook Knuckles off and fired three thin black beams at him. G&W saw his chance, and rushed up in front of the beams. Pulling out his bucket, he absorbed each beam, and tossed the energy back at the shadow…in the form of 2D oil. The shadow actually fell over this time.

"Nice work, GW." Ness commented. The others nodded in agreement.

The shadow roared and stood up, with a glint in its eyes.

Apocalypse had the interesting fight he had wanted, that's for sure. Anomaly's new advantage gave the ancient mutant no time to think. Fists up in a guard, Apocalypse rushed at Anomaly angrily. Anomaly summoned a column of black earth that effectively blocked Apocalypse's attack. Apocalypse quickly punched with his other arm, but Anomaly had already darted out of the way, and commanded the blocking earth to attack. Anomaly summoned two more huge pillars that each began attacking Apocalypse. Apocalypse grew a bit larger, and punched at one with all his might. To the surprise of him and Anomaly, it broke.

"How could you break my land?"

Apocalypse saw the obvious retort, and was happy to oblige. "I'll break more than that," he said, breaking the other two pillars as well, and following up with a mighty swing at the emperor shadow's head. Anomaly just ducked in time.

Sonic was just starting to get tired when he had an idea. Rushing off to a somewhat secluded area, he began charging his inner energies. As the Shadowbots approached, Sonic stood up, and grinned.

"Ancient Light!" he shouted.

Upon reciting this name, he spontaneously formed into a ball and flew forward, annihilating every Shadowbot in proximity. Sonic saw Roboshadow pound the computer in anger.

_That's it_! Sonic thought gleefully. _The computer_!

Running past the few Shadowbots that remained, he jumped into the air and performed his Homing Attack twice – once at Roboshadow's head, and then at the computer.

"No!" Roboshadow gasped.

Clyne had all but decimated Spearbot's supply of spears in his fit of rage. He was about to climb the wires to attack Spearbot's head, but Spearbot suddenly stopped moving. Falcon, Pikachu, and DK jumped off just as the huge robot collapsed to the ground. Gerick and Juvenor put away their weapons, somewhat exhausted. Everyone turned to see Sonic heading for the door.

"Don't go in there, Sonic!" Roboshadow shouted. "If you enter, Shadow will die!"

With that, a window opened, and there sat Shadow. The walls began closing in, threatening to crush him.

"Sonic!" Shadow shouted. "Save me!"

Sonic stared at Shadow, glaring. He grinned to himself as he considered what Shadow had said, and turned to the others, laughing. "So what? If Shadow dies, it'll save me the trouble of killing him. Anyway, I saw Captain Commando and Young Link in there. I'll go in to save _them_."

"Sonic, no!" Clyne shouted, but of course, he was too slow. Sonic had already rushed inside, and the walls squashed Shadow flat. "Unbelievable."

"I thought we convinced him that they were on the same team…" Juvenor said sadly. "Damn. At least we can get Roboshadow!"

"No-" Roboshadow began to feebly protest.

"No!" Sonic shouted firmly, emerging from the small building flanked by Young Link and Commando. "I have someone in mind who wants to kill Roboshadow himself."

"Who might that be?" Falcon glowered.

In reply, Sonic ducked. A black figure leapt out from behind him, landing right in front of Roboshadow.

"Disappear!" he shouted, and Roboshadow screamed and collapsed.

Sonic grinned as he watched the smashers' faces turn from anger to shock as they recognized Shadow as the assailant.

"How – did…" Clyne couldn't complete his thought.

"Oh, it was easy," Sonic smirked. "I knew it wasn't really Shadow as soon as it called me by my name."

The smashers enjoyed some much-needed comic relief.

"Sonic, come with me; I have an idea," Shadow whispered, and the two disappeared.

"Wh-" Gerick began to protest. "Oh well, they seem to be on friendlier terms now."

"We should get back to the group," DK suggested.

"Chu!" Pikachu agreed.

Aelali raised his arms. "You want a fight, fools? I'll give you a fight!"

In a dramatic burst of black magic, a group of shadows appeared.

"So they _were_ being maintained magically!" Link gasped.

"You bet. And if I didn't have to come down here to babysit, the shadows would still be coming."

"That's just not fair!" Kirby protested.

"Deal with it, puffball. Anyway, you'd have preferred an unlimited shadow army to me."

"Right," Bowser growled, rolling his eyes.

Aelali closed his eyes and leapt into the air. Opening them, he hovered in midair, just above the smashers' heads. Extending his arms, bolts of lightning shot from the air, hitting Bowser squarely. Bowser roared in pain and fainted, as black electricity circulated through his system visibly.

"That looks painful." Falco mused without thinking about his audience.

"It is! Even more than Luigi's affliction!" Aelali replied. "Would you like a sample?"

"N-no." Falco answered, startled by Aelali's nonchalance. He composed himself quickly, and angrily raised his gun to fire.

"Ha! Don't make me laugh!" Aelali said, pointing his finger at the laser gun. It instantly exploded. Falco shook his hand in pain.

"What the-"

Falco then noticed that his hand was completely black. The hand began sizzling and burning like Luigi's head.

"You make this too easy." Aelali grinned, summoning a magical cage to trap Pichu and Jigglypuff together. When Pichu tried to headbutt its way out, the wall bent forward as if it were elastic, and Pichu flew back into the other wall, which was not elastic at all. Pichu collapsed. Jigglypuff stared at the wall, completely helpless.

Link glared as he watched his companions fall. He knew that Aelali was just toying with them and using a fraction of his power, and he was infuriated.

Aelali continued by binding Tails's tails together with a band of black magic. Tails, who was hovering in the air at the time, fell to the ground instantly, and the band began to tighten. Tails wailed in pain as it grew tighter and tighter.

"Stop that right now! Leave them alone! It's me you want!" Fox shouted.

"Why would I want a weakling like you?" Aelali sneered, summoning a large black plate. It fell directly on top of Fox, who was consequently crushed and immobilized. He grunted in agony.

Zelda and Link watched their friends fall one by one. At this point, only they, Kirby, and Yoshi remained to oppose the powerful assistant.

_I can't believe Maska sacrificed himself to save us just so we could die here_, Zelda thought sadly. 

_This is too easy_, Aelali thought. _These fools don't stand a chance against me! I'm bored_.

He teleported away, leaving four laser blasts in his wake. As you might expect, they hit Link, Zelda, Yoshi, and Kirby, but simply weakened them instead of torturing them.

"Where'd he go?" Yoshi wondered.

"Who knows…let's try to help them," Zelda suggested.

Wolverine gasped for breath as Morphshadow, as a humanoid, punched him in the chest. Growling ferally, he slashed the shadow. Master Hand fired a missile, then looked up.

"Hey, who's that?"

The other three smashers looked up just in time to see Aelali disappear.

"Looks like they're doing well," Samus remarked, "if he's leaving."

"Well, we'rea not." Mario replied grimly, smashing Morphshadow in the knee.

Morphshadow's humanoid form was very tall, so it was difficult for the smashers to attack him reasonably. Not that it seemed to matter…Morphshadow was also nigh invulnerable in any of his three forms.

"I think we should give up on this guy and go help them." Samus suggested.

"Well…then he'd be free to attack whoever he wanted." Master Hand pointed out.

"What would we do about it anyway if he wanted to attack someone else?" Wolverine growled. "I agree with Samus."

Master Hand shrugged (well…you know what I mean) and followed the other three toward the group of smashers in the middle.

"Where are you going? Cowards!" Morphshadow shouted, turning into a tank. He began firing blasts at the four smashers angrily. Suddenly, Zelda appeared, reflecting the blasts with Nayru's Love. Morphshadow actually recoiled a bit.

"Thanksa, Zelda." Mario said appreciatively.

"No problem; we could all hear you." Mario noticed that her voice was somewhat strained.

"Are youa OK?"

Zelda staggered a bit as they were walking back. "Yes-"

Samus reached up and caught her just before she fainted.

"No," Zelda sighed. "Aelali is-"

Then she fainted.

"Aelali?" Wolverine wondered.

Master Hand looked around gravely. "Look at that," he said.

Every smasher in the group was on the ground, moaning in pain, except Link, Yoshi, and Kirby, who were just unconscious.

"Looks like this Aelali is big trouble." Samus surveyed.

"Speaking ofa which, herea comes Morphshadow." Mario put in.

The tank was, indeed, barreling forward, about to roll over the unconscious body of Zelda.

"Shadow, that's a fantastic idea!" Sonic grinned.

"Of course it is. We have to hurry, though." Shadow replied.

"I have to admit, Shadow, we make a pretty good team."

"You really think so?"

"No, not really. But give it time."

(A/N: Can you feel this war winding down to a close? No, me either. As Sonic said, give it time. Keep reviewing, please!)


	11. Chaos

Chapter 11: Chaos

"Zelda!" Samus shouted, watching the tank barrel forward mercilessly.

Suddenly, a blue figure dashed past, carrying Zelda away just in time. When he stopped moving, the smashers recognized Marth. Samus gasped in relief.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," Marth replied. "After beating Giga Bowser, we decided to see how you were doing."

"Where'sa Popo?" Mario asked, looking at Nana. She lowered her head and started to sob.

"Ah," he murmured. "I'ma sorry."

Samus reached out and hugged Nana soothingly. Mario was very impressed by her gentleness, despite her armor.

"Y-your armor's cold," Nana sobbed.

Samus looked up in despair. "Sorry,"

"We should get moving, though," Roy pointed out. "Seems like whatever caused this is coming back."

Indeed, a black portal in front of the fallen torture victims indicated the return of Aelali.

"Oh, more toys to play with," he grinned, noticing the new arrivals. "Shouldn't some of you be taking care of Morphshadow?" He pointed up in the air.

Morphshadow had transformed into a hawk and began circling above the smashers like a vulture, preparing to strike.

"Leave that to me," Master Hand suggested, flying up to Morphshadow.

Wolverine glared at Aelali. "You'll pay for this," he growled.

"You wish," Aelali laughed, shooting a beam of black magic at Wolverine. The beam hit him squarely in the chest, and a black spot appeared there. Wolverine grinned even as the telltale smoke rose from the wound and sizzling sounds filled the air.

"Wha-"

Wolverine extended his claws and slashed at the unsuspecting assistant. Aelali fell backward, clutching his side.

"What are you?" Aelali gasped.

Wolverine smiled bestially. "The best at what I do."

Clyne, Juvenor, Gerick, Falcon, DK, Commando, Young Link, and Pikachu emerged onto the main battlefield just in time to see Anomaly clobber Apocalypse.

"Heya, guys!" Mario shouted joyfully. "Gooda to see youa all OK. Wherea are Sonic anda Shadow?"

Juvenor shrugged. "They went off on their own. Hopefully they're not killing each other."

Mario laughed half-heartedly. "I hopea not…we needa them."

He looked up to see Master Hand punching Morphshadow. Turning, he watched Game & Watch smash his opponent. Then, he turned to Aelali.

"That'sa our maina problem ata the moment," he said.

"OK," Clyne said, charging forward.

"No-"

Clyne dashed forward, preparing to knock the assistant out. However, Aelali recovered from his shock and pain just in time to turn around and send Clyne flying backward with a quick spell. Then, he summoned a group of shadows.

"Whoa," Commando, having missed almost the whole fight, had no idea what was going on, but he was happy to avenge his early knockout. Young Link had the same idea.

"Yay, more shadows," Falcon groaned, Falcon Kicking forward.

"Hey, look!" Ness shouted, pointing up.

Emerging from the roof of a nearby small building were Sonic and Shadow. Ignoring all pleasantries, Shadow turned to Knuckles and whispered something in his ear. Knuckles gasped knowingly and pointed to a small spot on the ground. Sonic and Shadow dashed over it, noticing a gem-like polygon inscribed in a circle on the ground.

"Hey Aelali," Roy shouted tauntingly. "Why don't you make that shadow over there talk?"

"Oh!" Aelali gasped. "I forgot!"

He pointed to the brutish shadow and muttered a few magic words.

Sonic and Shadow stood still, and seven gems shot up from strategically placed holes in the ground. They began to spin around the hedgehogs dramatically, and flashes of light began to appear.

"Whoa…" Ness said, reading Knuckles' mind. "The Chaos Emeralds?"

Anomaly noticed the flashes too. He tried to step on them to avoid any problems, but Apocalypse took advantage of his poor balance on one foot and punched him powerfully. Anomaly had to stop his fall with a plate of black land.

The light was now so bright that no one could see Sonic or Shadow, and the emeralds were spinning too quickly to see them. Suddenly, they stopped. The light remained for a moment as the gems returned to their proper hole.

Everyone gasped as the light died down.

Sonic had turned a bright yellow, and Shadow had become white with some red stripes.

"Thanks, Knuckles," Shadow said, and there was a distinct echo to his voice now.

The large shadow roared as Aelali's spell took effect. "Finally! I can talk!"

"Great. Who are you?" Ganondorf rolled his eyes.

"I am Super Shadow!"

Shadow turned his head, hearing this. "Super Shadow, huh? There's only room for _one _Super Shadow in this dimension. And that's me." He charged forward, and a yellow shield appeared in front of him as he picked up speed. The shadow charged at the smashers again, but Shadow arrived just then. His path took him directly through the opposing shadow. The shadow screamed with its newfound voice, and exploded.

"Wow," Game & Watch remarked.

"Wow is right," Knuckles replied. "Those Chaos Emeralds are a real kick."

Meanwhile, Super Sonic was investigating the large group of unconscious smashers.

"Come and get me, pretty boy," Aelali taunted. 

Wolverine was on the floor by now, but his healing factor was still fighting the full effects. The other smashers had maintained a strategic distance from the powerful sorcerer, fighting the shadows, but Super Sonic showed no such inhibition.

"Bring it on!" Sonic taunted.

"You asked for it," replied Aelali, firing a blast of energy at Sonic.

Sonic stood immobile as the size of the blast grew steadily, until the smashers couldn't even see Sonic through the beam.

"No!" Peach gasped.

Aelali stopped his attack after a few moments. Super Sonic stood there undaunted, and flew at Aelali with a blue shield in front. Aelali tried to summon a shield to protect him, but he was far too slow. The impact sent him flying backward. Super Sonic scowled at the mage. He wasn't going to let him get away that easily.

"Super Sonic Wind!" he shouted.

Instead of a blue tornado, a bright yellow one appeared on top of Aelali. Aelali screamed in pain as the tornado pounded him, lifted him up, and flung him even farther away. 

Anomaly, hearing Aelali's cry of pain, looked down to see Super Sonic standing triumphantly. He glared and started assaulting the hedgehog with land. Apocalypse was held at bay by a huge terrestrial prison. 

"Whoa!" Sonic shouted, as a huge pillar erupted from the ground and fell on top of him. He chuckled and broke it open. He ran up to defeat the small shadow army, as he charged through various land patterns that tried to hurt him. A spike came up in an attempt to stab Sonic, but it broke on his invincible chest.

"No!" Anomaly gasped.

Sonic ran through all of the shadows, then looked up to see Master Hand being attacked by a large bird. He flew up and used his supersonic wind to send Morphshadow flying. Then, he charged at the falling bird to ensure its demise, breaking through several barriers of land on the way.

_That does it,_ Super Sonic thought, abandoning Morphshadow.

Anomaly saw Sonic turn around and head right for him.

"You annoy me." Super Sonic shouted angrily.

Apocalypse gasped as Anomaly raised his fist behind him. Super Sonic, oblivious to the impending attack, flew at the emperor shadow. Anomaly punched mightily and connected soundly. Although Super Sonic did not feel any pain, the mere force of the blow was enough to send Super Sonic soaring away.

"Sonic! We're running low on rings, don't-" Shadow began to warn, then looked up. "No!"

_There's no way he has enough rings to make it back, Knuckles thought at the same time as Shadow. Ness picked up the strong emotion. _

"Can't we do anything to help him?" he asked. 

"The only flier here is Master Hand, and he's sort of unconscious," Ganondorf explained. 

"Oh, that's right!" Shadow remembered. He skated forward. 

"Disappear!" he shouted. 

Whatever consciousness Morphshadow had been retaining did, indeed, disappear. 

Anomaly turned to see Apocalypse breaking out of the barrier. "Here we go again," he thought.

Shadow looked around to verify that every possible opponent to the toy dimension was defeated, besides one very big exception. He saw a flash of blue light coming back, but he knew that Sonic would be too slow. Just as he thought this, he felt his body losing power, and he became Shadow once again. He looked up, and saw the blue flash die out. 

"Sonic! No!"

Anomaly looked around angrily. "You were lucky. But you can never defeat me!"

(A/N: Wow. They really made some headway here, huh? Only Anomaly remains to oppose the toy dimension. Will even all of the remaining smashers be able to defeat this shadow who has total control of the land?)


	12. Thirty-one to One

(A/N: First of all, as Link said in chapter 8, "This is war. People die." That's just the way it goes. Second of all, this is _not _the last chapter. The final showdown, maybe, but not the last chapter.)

Chapter 12: Thirty-two to one

The remaining smashers gathered together to face off with Anomaly. Apocalypse stood behind the eager group of thirty-one. 

"What are we supposed to do?" Luigi wondered.

"Attack his feet, or something," Clyne replied.

Juvenor pulled out his gun. "Not for me," he said confidently, and began firing at Anomaly's face.

"Arrgh!" Anomaly roared in anger more than pain. "Stop it!"

With that, a small fist of land extended and grabbed Juvenor's arm, immobilizing it. Clyne rushed over to try to break it, but Anomaly created a pillar that shot straight up just in front of Clyne, knocking him backward.

Wolverine glared and extended his claws. He raised his arm and stuck his hand into Anomaly's foot, then followed with the other. Anomaly growled and shook his leg, which only caused the claws to move around inside. Wolverine began to climb up Anomaly's leg, vigorously pushing his claws in each time. Anomaly even tried to use extensions of land to knock Wolverine off, but the Canadian was strong enough to swing himself out of the way from the leverage in his arms.

Meanwhile, most of the other smashers were pounding enthusiastically at Anomaly's feet. Anomaly shook his foot, annoyed, but that always invited Apocalypse to punch. Anomaly shook his head and attacked Apocalypse with a huge chunk of land. Apocalypse blocked it, but Anomaly punched him. Apocalypse stumbled, and Anomaly raised the land behind the mutant so Apocalypse would trip. Before falling, though, Apocalypse swung his leg up, kicking Anomaly in the chest. Anomaly staggered back, bent over. 

Bowser grabbed Pichu and threw the tiny Pokemon as far into the air as he could. Pichu flew high into the air, then flipped and used his Quick Attack to just make it onto Anomaly's head. 

Nana watched her friends fight sadly. She knew that she couldn't do anything without her brother. She just wished she could go home.

"Hello, Nana," a voice came from behind. Nana turned around, not knowing what to expect.

"Popo?" Nana gasped.

Clyne recovered and attacked the "arm" that held Juvenor. However, he was not quite as strong as Apocalypse, and couldn't break it. He called for Balendin and Gerick to help.

Balendin charged his shortsword with spirit magic, and Gerick held his sword firmly with both hands. The three attacked simultaneously, and the land finally shattered.

"Thanks, guys," Juvenor sighed, massaging his wrist. "Look out!"

A huge wave of land rose up, threatening to squash the four fighters. Clyne grabbed everyone and pulled them close to him just as the wave crashed against the ground.

Shadow and Knuckles ran around Anomaly's feet, avoiding the attacking land. Knuckles then ran far away from Anomaly and charged forward. Using his momentum, he leapt into the air and planted his knuckles firmly into Anomaly's knee. He began climbing up, like Wolverine. Meanwhile, Shadow charged his energies for a Light Attack. When he rocketed forward into Anomaly's ankle, the giant shadow actually appeared to have felt the attack.

A blue portal appeared, and Clyne stepped out of it, followed by the other fighters.

"That was close," Gerick sighed in relief.

"Good thing Clyne has such quick reflexes," Juvenor said admiringly. Clyne shrugged modestly and charged forward, staff extended to block attacking arms of land.

Apocalypse, meanwhile, was fending off a veritable army of limbs of land. In his precious moments of rest, he grew, to increase his strength advantage over Anomaly, who was vastly amused by the futile attempts of the smaller smashers. He scowled as Juvenor's onslaught of laser returned to torment him. Anomaly extended his arm, repeating his erstwhile strategy, but Apocalypse punched his foe in the face. Distracted, Anomaly glared at Apocalypse, summoning a huge surge of land that reached a greater height even than the Egyptian mutant. The quick wave left Apocalypse no time to react except the instinctive raising his arms to protect himself. The wave came crashing down with a deafening crash.

"No!" came the reasonably simultaneous cry of the smashers. The shadow emperor laughed evilly.

"Your leader is defeated, fools. You are next." Anomaly sneered.

"Yeah, right!" Mario cried. "You don't stand a chance!"

Anomaly shook his head. "I've been holding back, saving some energy for Apocalypse," he grinned. "Now, you will enjoy no such luxuries." Then he began laughing uproariously, typical of overconfident emperors.

"Bowser," Juvenor whispered, "Throw me up there as high as you can."

Bowser shrugged and complied. Anomaly, his head thrown back in insane laughter, failed to notice Juvenor's flight. Once he achieved a reasonable height, Juvenor began firing rapidly into Anomaly's mouth. Anomaly screamed in pain, and just then, Wolverine and Knuckles reached Anomaly's chest. 

"Hey, kid," Wolverine whispered, "On three."

Knuckles grinned and nodded.

"One,"

Pichu used his Thunder atop Anomaly's head. Anomaly barely noticed, but swung his arms up in annoyance, whereupon Gerick fired his crossbow at Anomaly's unguarded chest. Pichu jumped over Anomaly's left arm, but was hit by his right. No one saw Pichu fall to his death behind Anomaly.

"Two,"

Popo replied to a very confused Nana, "Not exactly…I'm the action figure version of Popo. I saw your brother killed…my sister was killed too. I figured we could join up."

Nana's face lit up. "I'd love to!" she shouted.

The two of them belayed upward until they reached Anomaly's face and tossed ice blocks into his mouth, which was still open due to his screaming. Juvenor stopped firing, since he was beginning to fall back to the ground.

"Three!"

Wolverine and Knuckles both leaned back and rammed their fists into Anomaly's chest. Anomaly roared in actual pain and tried unsuccessfully to shake the smashers off. Anomaly staggered and seemed about to collapse.

Suddenly, another loud crash came from behind Anomaly. The sun was immediately blocked out, and a huge shadow once again appeared.

"Apocalypse!"

"What?" Anomaly bellowed. "You're dead!"

"Unfortunately for you, not quite," Apocalypse replied. Larger than ever, the huge mutant raised his fist and delivered a crushing blow to Anomaly's face. Anomaly was sent spinning into the air, and landed on his back several feet away.

"How did you survive?" Balendin shouted.

"I was able to shrink just in time," Apocalypse replied. "I would have regrown earlier, but you were doing fine on your own."

The smashers laughed.

Anomaly shrieked. "You may have defeated the shadows this time," he said, unable to move from the pain, "but you haven't heard the last of evil in this dimension!"

Apocalypse rolled his eyes. "Do us all a favor and die,"

Eyes flashing, Anomaly shot back, "Oh, I will. But not alone."

With that, Anomaly's hands began to emanate a black glow. Suddenly, a beam of light shot from his hands, hitting Apocalypse squarely.

"Arrrgh!" Apocalypse cried.

The beam became brighter and brighter, and Anomaly's hands became darker and darker.

"No!" Mario shouted, rushing toward Anomaly. However, when he jumped up to tackle Anomaly, he went right through. "Huh?"

Apocalypse was down on his knees in pain by now. Anomaly's back became almost translucent, then completely invisible.

"He's channeling all of his life energy into this attack," Clyne explained somberly. "Neither one will survive this."

After a few more moments of watching helplessly, only a determined face and a pair of hands remained of the once powerful emperor. Apocalypse was lying on the ground. As the face and hands disappeared completely, so did the beam, and its target.

"No!" Zelda said quietly, sobbing.

Juvenor, Balendin, and the other toys looked the most depressed.

_Well_, Mario thought bitterly, _we won_.

(A/N: First of all, it's random who dies, remember? No one should yell at me for killing Pichu. Second of all, our Internet connection is going down for hopefully no more than a week. This means that you'll all have to wait with great anticipation for…the…epilogue. Anyway, r&r, I know it's long.)


	13. Epilogue

Chapter 13: Epilogue

"Hey…" Peach said suddenly, looking around, "where's the little mousey?"

"Pi?" Pikachu asked, confused.

"Not you, the other one," she clarified.

"Pichu!" Shadow realized suddenly. "Where's Pichu?"

The smashers looked around, calling for the small Pokemon, to no avail. Finally, Falcon uttered a sad cry, and the smashers gathered to see Pichu's corpse.

As the smashers mourned, the small group of remaining action figures gathered to grieve the death of their leader.

"I can't believe he's gone!" Jean Grey sobbed. 

"I know," Spiderman comforted. "He was like a father to me."

"He was like a father to all of us," Superman put in. "How are we ever going to replace him?"

"I think I may have an idea," Juvenor replied.

The smashers, meanwhile, had finished mourning and burying Pichu and went on to find Master Hand, who had been unconscious since Morphshadow had knocked him out. In a large pile of rubble, they eventually found a white finger sticking out. DK, Bowser, and Ganondorf hurriedly removed all of the rocks. Master Hand groaned.

"Wha-what'd I miss?" he stammered. Noticing the lack of a gargantuan battle in the background, he asked, "D-did we w-win?"

"Yep," Mario responded happily. "Area you OKa?"

"Not really," the glove answered. "Where's everybody?"

"Over there-" Ness began.

"They're celebrating," DK replied gravely.

"What's wrong?" Master Hand asked, noticing DK's somber tone.

"Apocalypse," Zelda began, but could not finish.

"He's dead," Falco stated.

Master Hand floated still in shock for a moment. "Dead?"

"Yes. Anomaly's final attack drained all of his life energy, which was enough to deplete Apocalypse's as well," Clyne reported.

For probably the first time, Master Hand was speechless.

"Congratulations, guys," Juvenor said to Balendin and Gerick. "You fought very well considering your lack of practice."

"It's natural," Gerick replied, grinning. "You were pretty good yourself."

"Not good enough," Juvenor shook his head, looking at the other toys. "I just can't believe he's gone…"

"Hey! What's your great idea?" Emperor Zurg shouted angrily.

Juvenor turned around angrily. "I'll tell you, if you'll be patient!" he shouted.

"So what will you do now that the war's over, Master Hand?" Fox asked.

"I don't know," Master Hand replied. "I guess I'll just hang around my dimension."

"Just don't get bored and hold another tournament!" Link joked. The smashers laughed.

Master Hand looked around gravely. "It'll be hard to find a leader like Apocalypse. Oh, hello, Juvenor."

Clyne turned to see Juvenor approaching the glove and the smashers.

"Juvenor," Clyne greeted. "Sorry about before."

"It was understandable," Juvenor replied. "Don't worry about it." 

Then, the gun-toting action figure turned to Master Hand.

"I don't know you as well as the other toys around here, Master Hand, but I've seen you fight, and I've seen you talk to the smashers. I can't think of anyone who is better suited to be our leader."

Master Hand was stunned. "Me?"

"Of course, you," Shadow said, approaching. "You kept Sonic from killing me; what other qualifications do you need?"

After enjoying a good laugh, Master Hand continued, "Well, I'm flattered, but-"

"What but?" Marth protested. "You just told us you had nothing planned!"

"You didn't let me finish. I'm flattered, but I'm going to need a vice-leader."

Shadow stepped forward. "I recommend Juvenor," he said frankly.

"Me, too," Master Hand said with a smile in his voice. "Juvenor, would you?"

"I'd love too," came the reply.

Shadow raced over the group of survivors. He cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention. "Presenting…the new leader-"

"And vice-leader," Juvenor whispered.

"-And vice leader, of this dimension: the greatest father-and-son team in our history: Master Hand and Juvenor!"

Loud cheers erupted from the crowd, as the smashers applauded happily.

"Well, back to mountain climbing," Nana sighed. "Popo, you're coming with me, aren't you?"

"Of course!"

"Well," Game & Watch sighed, "Back to Flat Zone."

"Isn't it boring there?" Knuckles asked.

"Extremely."

"So stay here! We've got…lots of room,"

Game & Watch nodded happily in reply.

"Well," Link said, grinning widely, "Back to beating up Ganondorf."

Ganondorf glared as the other smashers laughed. "In your dreams!"

Mario turned to Samus. "I guess we won't get to see each other much anymore," he whispered, without his accent.

"You never know," she replied. "Evil has a tendency to pop up every so often."

"Mario!" Peach shouted. "Come on, we're leaving!"

"Alla right, alla right," Mario sighed. "Goodbye, everyonea!"

Clyne extended his arms, and all of the smashers (except Game & Watch) returned to their own dimensions.

"What about you?" Tails asked meekly. "You're not a toy,"

"I don't have anywhere to go," Clyne replied. "Besides, you're going to need some help rebuilding, and I'd like to spend some time with my friends," he added, looking at Juvenor.

Master Hand turned to the cheering crowd. "From now on," he shouted, "there will be no more fighting here! We'll rebuild and live peacefully, and let the smashers deal with wars!"

The cheering intensified.

"Do you really believe that?" Juvenor asked, after Master Hand and he retired to their new offices in the central building.

"Not for a moment," Master Hand replied. "But for the time being, we need to start rebuilding, again."

The End

(A/N: Well, there you have it. The war is over, and everyone is happy. However, I don't feel like waiting for the next SSB to write another fic, so the happiness may not last for long!)


End file.
